The white letters on dark background finished etching themselves across the air, shimmering with their usual flourish before solidifying into plain system text:

[TITAN OF ASHEN BARK'S RAID: TOP CONTRIBUTION]

Top 1: New Destiny (Guild)

Top 2: Lion's Parade (Guild)

Top 3: CJS69 (Player)

Top 4: Bloodbather (Guild)

Top 5: Opiased (Player)

For half a second, the hall went dead quiet as everyone read it. Then, someone broke the ice

"LET'S GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO"

Then the eruption came.

"HOOORAAAAHHH!"

"WE'RE THE BEST!"

"BEGINNING CITY TONIGHT, DINNER'S ON ME!"

"CRACK THAT KEG, WE'RE DRINKING!"

Cheers, roars, tankards banging against tables. Someone actually leapt onto a chair and hollered, the word "number one" rolled like thunder through the crowd, they were chanting it like a football match (actual football).

I would have been prideful too if I were them. Despite everyone knowing that their individual contribution was nothing but a dent in the ocean, there was clearly vindication and a sense of accomplishment… Reminds me back when playing games actually was still for fun and achievements.

"Do you know why they're cheering so hard, CJS?"

Olga approached me from behind and spoke, not really engaging with the rest, because she was following the rules of not interacting until a verdict is made.

"Kinda… Yeah? But I'd like to know more."

"For ze past few weeks, I and many other have been told that the New Destiny was… Fraudulent, fake, wouldn't hold no candle to the PC-era glory." She said, "But we proved them bastards wrong now, don'tcha think?"

I looked up at her.

"You really cared, huh?"

"What, you think I'm a maniac political killer, you bastard?"

Olga proceed to give me a noogie with her large knuckles, ouch.

People laughed, sang, slapped each other's backs while yelling words in different languages that reminds people why this game was rated eighteen plus. I started hooraaa-ing alongside all the loud noise, letting my throat do the wet work as I participated in sharing the fun.

"Yell with me, Hailie." I said, approaching her with a hand over the shoulder like we're bros, "YEAHHHHHHH!"

"Oh… Hie… Yaaaaaaaaaa!" Hailie said, raising both arms holding the staff up in the air like she was lifting a trophy.

As the celebration was going on, someone finally noticed something.

A rather short English girl (by that I mean short by standard, yet still a tad taller than me) with long, braided bright brown hair, wearing a ridiculously sized witch hat approached me with a playful smile, her eyes squinting a bit as she waved.

"Hey there! Are you the CJS69 I've heard so much about~? One question, is that your name on the top 3?"

The laughter ebbed like water down a drain. Heads turned as dozens of eyes zeroed in on me when they heard what she said, and they opened up the UI again just to make sure.

"Oh… Yeah?" One person said.

The witch-hat-wearing girl then took my hands, "That's really impressive! I'm proud of you! Any tips~?"

I was still half-dazed, my mind blank, until I felt she jostled my arm and I blinked back into reality.

"…What? No." I shook my head quickly, waving my hands. "That's not me… Uh, it's- Oh god, my username is CJS69Real, not CJS69."

Suspicion lingered for a moment, thick in the air, I rubbed the back of my neck, forcing a crooked smile as I looked away from the eye contact the girl was making.

"I, uh… I know that person, it's a username squatter, you know how it is, right? Someone who uses someone else's username, probably to sell later somehow- Him- her… yeah, we've, uh, made amends, kinda, but that's not me. Trust me, that's very much not me."

That seemed to satisfy most of them. The crowd went back to their chatter, though a few people still gave me curious looks before letting it drop.

I kept my face blank, though the inside of my skull burned. Of course it was Tanya, who else would squat on my old username and climb to the top just to remind me?

But… I was still stunned, very surprised.

For the simple fact that a player could even single-handedly get on the leaderboard, let alone two of them. Who the fuck is Tanya? And who the fuck is Opiased? Now the fact of the matter is, my name's been plastered onto the leaderboard without me really liking it.

Pearl clapped his hands once, sharply, and the celebratory noise settled into expectant quiet.

"Loot distribution," he announced. "The details of the loots was announced this morning on the official Darkmoon Adventure forum by the developers. And because we contributed as a guild and secured first place, our pool is one hundred thousand gold."

Even knowing the number, hearing it aloud made the room buzz again. A hundred thousand, enough to buy out half the auction board. Enough to change lives, in here and maybe even out there, and having even 0.1% of that amount still means a lot of good gear for this level for anyone.

"But please, everyone must note that," Pearl continued, his voice cutting through the greed like a blade, "it is less impressive than it seems when split, so here is the breakdown."

He crossed his hands behind his back, not needing to have a notebook or anything as he announced.

"Before the participation loot… Here's the figures that support organizing the raid."

"The guild leader, who led the first phase, receives one percent of the pool."

I didn't even bother asking who the leader was. Didn't need to, really, probably the old leader of Omnitetris, that guy I know.

"I led the second phase, Eolga led the third phase. Each of us will also receive one percent."

Olga lifted her chin and nodded, still standing right behind me for some reason.

"CJS69Real" Pearl's eyes flicked to me "Your contribution is insurmountable to us, you've kept phase three from collapsing into a total wipe, so you will also receive one percent."

I stiffened, but didn't argue… I think I deserved 1.5% though.

"And finally, my sister, who organized the rotations, handled the scheduling, and ensured that all three phases had coverage across timezones, receives one percent."

A few murmurs at that. I overheard that a few people didn't even know Pearl's sister existed, let alone that she'd been running the invisible machinery of their victories.

"Everyone else," Pearl said, "receives half a percent per phase participated. This includes those who have already been allocated above."

"BUT" He added quick, "For phase three specifically, it'll be one percent instead of half a percent, due to the report of the difficulty of that phase."

The numbers filtered down into muttering. Someone scribbled furiously on parchment, others did the math in their heads… God damn dum dum people couldn't even do mental maths… For my case for particular, it was dog-water easy.

1% from saving everyone, and I only participated in phase 3, that's one phase, so I should be getting another 0.5%, or 1.5% total, but phase three is hard and they doubled the reward, I got a total of 2% of the total loot pool.

For a guild, that's a lot.

I got… Drumroll please.

"2000 gold," I muttered.

Before I knew it, the weird witch hat girl was already gone, I spent too much time in my daze that I didn't even got a good look at her boobs, what a crying shame… Olga seemed to noticed all the air pressed in my lungs, so she tapped on my shoulder and walked back to the bar, because the trial was going to continue soon in a few minutes.

Hailie was looking at me from the bar with a prideful look, she smiled at me and waved as she was, somehow someway, once again, being approached by a lot of people who adored her and wanted to make friends. And here I thought the rule's said no approaching the defendants and witnesses in case of coercement and bribery? God damn it, legal system!

Well, not that it's important.

I exhaled at the number, quite substantial, I think I could get a full set of items at level 50, but I have to take care of Hailie, too, when she gets to level 40.

As I was thinking, Pearl continued:

"After all shares are allocated, approximately eleven percent remains. This remainder will move directly into the guild fund."

Pearl paused, letting the logic settle. "That fund is not for hoarding. It is a system built-in stash accessible only with guild leader approval, intended for repairs, buyouts, or emergency purchases."

The crowd nodded, more or less satisfied, for once, no one raised a serious protest.

Pearl's voice softened:

"Whatever the result of today's vote may be, the loot is settled and will be delivered, very single one of you will receive your share even if you're kicked, banned, or whatever the case might be. The gold sits in the guild's fund as of now, once I have the leader's authorization when they're online, it will be distributed directly to your character."

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